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Editorial: In US sights
It may be just coincidence
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It may be just coincidence. And even if it weren’t, we may be making too much of the situation.
Nevertheless, the arrival of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Indonesia as part of her first foreign tour abroad is a distinguishable compliment speaking volumes about Indonesia’s global profile.
Her detour away from the East Asian route – Japan, China and South Korea – toward Southeast Asia is putting flesh on the Obama administration’s plans to project a new approach in US foreign policy.
Indonesia should feel honored, even humbled, while being prepared to show that as an eminent regional player, it can provide substance to the bilateral relationship in a drastically changing world.
The relationship with Washington must be treated with an altogether different guile to that of most other states.
The United States is not like any other. It can be the bully on the block, the wise man on the hill, and the kind philanthropist all at once.
During her brief stay here, the conversation should not be focused on what the US wants, but what the world’s largest archipelago, third largest democracy and the nation with the world’s biggest Muslim population needs.
In other words, it is about defining Indonesia’s position amid the global challenges of the next decade vis-à-vis the American hegemony.
Hillary Clinton, on the evening of her departure, described Indonesia as “one of Asia’s most dynamic nations, where human energy and aspiration combine to help lead the country to a free and fair system of elections, a free press, a robust civil society and a prominent role for women in government”.
It is now time to put flesh on the skeleton of what officials on both sides have described as a “strategic partnership”.
Despite the potential closeness of a “partnership”, it is inevitable that the two countries will retain significantly political viewpoints on certain issues and pursue alternate approaches to its resolution.
The question of Palestine, Iraq and Iran is one example where the two countries have fundamentally opposed views.
However, this should not translate into rhetorical slinging or placing each other at diametric opposites. The spirit of cooperation, as practiced among members of ASEAN, is to focus on common points of concern and mutual interest without being negated by the prevailing differences.
Hence one of the traits of a “strategic partnership” should be changing the narrative of the relationship toward more equitable matters in which both sides have a common stake.
Issues of democratization, good governance, health, education, the environment and the commitment to open markets are arguably directly more pertinent to lay Indonesians and Americans than are tensions in the Middle East.
A “strategic partnership” means cooperation in these areas should not be subject to scrutiny over support for US policy in other areas.
As America’s own 28th president, Woodrow Wilson, once said, “No nation is fit to sit in judgment upon any other nation.”
We look forward to engaging with the new secretary of state, working with a hope-giving US president, and an America that has returned to its Wilsonian values of liberal democratic internationalism.
